Why does Lewis Carroll allude to Maud with the talking flowers?

Answer 1

Both of Lewis Carroll's Alice books include allusion to and parody of pre-existing works. Satirising Alfred Tennyson's Maud is consistent with Carroll's delight in disrupting or inverting the meanings and morals of more earnest, worthy literature.

But it is also possible that in this instance Carroll was seeking a gentle revenge against a slight dealt him by the Tennysons.

According to Philip Henderson's Tennyson, Poet and Prophet (see related link, below) Carroll met Tennyson on two occasions, but upon asking permission to print one of Alfred's unpublished poems Carroll recieved a very frosty reply from the poet's wife, Emily:

"It would be well that a gentleman should understand that when an author does not give his works to the public, he has his own reasons for it."

Henderson suggests that it was this incident which provoked Carroll's spoof of Tennyson's poem.

Answer 2

It is believed that Lewis Carroll alluded to Maud, one of the daughters of the Dean of Christ Church where Carroll worked, by using her as the inspiration for the talking flowers in "Through the Looking-Glass." Carroll often incorporated elements of his personal life and relationships into his works, and it is likely that the character of Maud helped shape the whimsical and playful nature of the talking flowers.